Hello
I was wondering if anyone else finds that they react to certain berries (strawberries, raspberries). I was looking at a list of fruits and vegetables that cause reactions but did not see these on their. I cannot eat strawberries as they give me severe sore throats and swelling of my lips, and raspberries can sometimes bother me. Has anyone else experienced this?
Thank you

I suspected strawberries were bothering my youngest...they would leave her with red spots near her mouth (not sure if she felt itchy or anything since she is 3 and cannot always verbalize her thoughts). She however is perfectly fine with organic, which I have since discovered that regular strawberries are one of the most pesticide ridden produce on the market. All commercial (not wildly grown) berries are quite commonly directly coated with chemicals to deter pests from eating them (i mean, they taste so good)...and they do not have an outside skin or peel to remove which usually contains the majority of the chemical pesticide.

Not to rule out your OAS theory for you, but it seemed to be more of a chemical sensitivity issue for us.

I *sometimes* have trouble with various berries....I went through a phase where I'd just cook everything to be safe. I'm now trying a few things raw to which I don't react as severely because I find my tolerance level for some raw fruit varies. I've actually been eating strawberries (very cautiously) without cooking them lately.

I made a strawberry shortcake last week for my husband's birthday and my youngest daughter "stole some of the strawberries I was going to use and a little while after, she had what seem like a big welt on her upper lip.

It happened again last night with a kiwi and she complained that her tongue was tingly.

Sounds like she's developping OAS. I will have to take her back to the allergist.

_________________15 year old - asthmatic, allergic to cats, dogs, horses, waiting to be "officially" diagnosed for anaphylaxis
12 year old - asthmatic, allergic to tree pollen and mold, OAS
Husband - Allergic to amoxycillin
Self - Allergic to housework only

I made a strawberry shortcake last week for my husband's birthday and my youngest daughter "stole some of the strawberries I was going to use and a little while after, she had what seem like a big welt on her upper lip.

It happened again last night with a kiwi and she complained that her tongue was tingly.

Sounds like she's developping OAS. I will have to take her back to the allergist.

Oh dear--do you know which pollens she's allergic to? (Sometimes the OAS symptoms are predictable...i.e. people who are allergic to ragweed can develop an allergy to melons..etc. not sure where kiwi or strawberries fits in.)

Our son is not allergic to berries, (but he is allergic to pineapple). When our son was younger, he would often develop "rashes" around his mouth due to the acidity of various fruits (eg. grapes, oranges, etc). He had no other symptoms other than the rash around his mouth, and he did not seem to be in any discomfort. The allergist we had at the time suggested limiting the amount of certain fruits causing the rash. He can now eat unlimited fruits (with the exception of pineapple) and no longer rashes.

I wanted to mention that our son's allergist, Dr. Susan Waserman, indicated that our son's allergy to pineapple is not OAS, but a true allergy, one to which he could be potentially anaphylactic (he was a 4++ to pineapple, which the allergist indicated was extremely rare with pineapple). I'm really not quite sure what the difference is between OAS and a "true allergy". Does anyone else know? I assumed the "true allergy" was more dangerous?? Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I don't know much about OAS as we are not dealing with that.

My oldest has OAS and thus has problems with fruits and veggies at varying times of the year. (And now I'm starting to wonder about pesticides too...) But he also has an true allergy to cucumber (for example) so you can have both, it seems.

I've always found OAS a bit confusing, to be honest. Anyone out there have a crystal clear understanding of it? I guess it's not technically a true allergy, since the reaction is caused by a cross-reaction to the pollen you're allergic too. But then wouldn't the reaction-causing protein in the pollen is also in the fruit/veg you're reacting too? (Sigh.)

Here are my thoughts on this--- since OAS *can* be as severe as allergies to other foods and since OAS is an immune system reaction to a protein, I'd say it is a 'true allergy'. It's just that the proteins causing the reaction are not heat stable (although some people do react to *cooked* fruits and veggies too.) I react *sometimes* to cooked carrots for example...but it is a mild enough reaction that I eat them anyways. I would *never* eat a raw carrot, though.

I think where OAS is different than 'regular allergies' (whatever those are) is that one is sensitized to the protein through inhalation (i.e. through the inhalation of pollen proteins which have a similar structure) rather than through ingestion or contact. I *think* that the mode in which we are sensitized *might* have an effect on the physiology of the allergic reaction but I don't know. (I was reading that kids with peanut allergies who have contact reactions are less likely to outgrow the allergy than kids who have had reactions through ingestion...if people are interested, I could dig up the reference. So this suggests to me that being sensitized through contact is different than being sensitized through ingestion and I would guess that inhalation would be different yet...)

Whereas with a 'regular allergy' the immune system reacts simply to the allergenic protein, a lot of people with OAS react only when the immune system is also reacting to a pollen with a similar structure to the allergenic protein. So people sometimes need to avoid certain raw fruits and veggies in summer but can eat them in the winter. But I have OAS type reactions year-round. I'm confused about how this works---is the physiology of the allergy the same if one reacts to the protein in the fruit and vegetable when the pollen is not present?

Julie, I'm guessing that your son's reaction to pineapple is not OAS not because of the severity of the allergy but because he was sensitized to the pineapple protein and not to a pollen that cross reacts with a pollen protein (but how one can know that I have no idea!) Or maybe she was just avoiding the term OAS to indicate that the allergy is really severe because although OAS can be severe, people generally don't think of it in that way.

I'm wondering if my allergy to cooked potatoes is an OAS reaction gone haywire...or if I'm just allergic to potatoes.

So far, she reacts to only kiwis in that list. I don't know with which pollen strawberries are associated with, but they seem to be a common food that people react to. My neighbour was eating a lot of them recently and started getting hives. She stopped for a few weeks and ate just a few and was okay.

My daughter told me that her mouth tingles a lot when she eats fruit, but she never complained because she thought it was normal! Mine tingles when I eat pineapples and I always thought it was normal, until I asked my husband if his mouth tingled with pineapples and he said no!

My older daughter reacts to sweet peppers but her reaction is more like a pollen allergy: itchy, watery eyes, runny nose. Anyone ever heard of that?

When my older daughter had her peanut reaction, one of my friends told me that her son had tree nut allergies and carried an Epi-pen, but never had to use it, as his reaction was only swelling of the tongue and mouth tingling. I think that what he really has is OAS! Their allergist told them that it could become anaphylactic, hence the Epi-pen. I think I read somewhere that OAS to tree nuts was most likely to become anaphylactic than other foods.

My younger daughter is also allergic to the pollen of the plants that have burrs but I can't remember the name. Anyone knows what they're called?

_________________15 year old - asthmatic, allergic to cats, dogs, horses, waiting to be "officially" diagnosed for anaphylaxis
12 year old - asthmatic, allergic to tree pollen and mold, OAS
Husband - Allergic to amoxycillin
Self - Allergic to housework only

I just reread the website I cited above and noted that other symptoms of OAS are conjunctivis and rhinitis, which explains my daughter's reaction to sweet peppers! Mystery solved.

_________________15 year old - asthmatic, allergic to cats, dogs, horses, waiting to be "officially" diagnosed for anaphylaxis
12 year old - asthmatic, allergic to tree pollen and mold, OAS
Husband - Allergic to amoxycillin
Self - Allergic to housework only

OAS as always been a big mystery to me... I've had it since I was really young (actually... can't remember not having it...) but when I look at charts and all, they don't coincide with my pollen allergies.

I don't react to melons which according to the charts should be pretty high on my list!!! My fruits that I can eat no matter what time of the year and uncooked are berries and melons... which according to my allergist should be causing me trouble... but the ones that he thinks should be ok are the ones that I can't eat or can only eat when cooked... A big mystery... so, I've came up with my own thoughts on this: stick with what I know and stop looking at the charts

but my pollen test have been messed up since I took shots for seasonal allergies many years back... I still rate off the charts for some of them even if I barely sneeze more during peak seasons than in the middle of winter

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